do you want to get well?

Tonight, our Disciple 4 group discussed the 5th and 6th chapters of John. In John 5, Jesus asks the man, lying beside the pool, "Do you want to get well?" It is a very interesting question; more than interesting, it is a provocative question, one that goes to our own motivation to get well, and implies a capacity that we have, within ourselves, for our own healing. John 6 is an extended reflection on the saying of Jesus, "I am the bread of life", and the entire passage echoes Exodus 16, which is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible (it is the account of the provision of manna in the wilderness combined with a teaching about observance of the sabbath). Together, the two chapters have to do with critical questions: Do I want to get well? Do I believe that Jesus will sustain me?